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Health Benefits of Kombucha

I know, I know it’s ages since I’ve written anything whatsoever, well, things have been rather crazy in this end. I’ve moved countries (twice in the past 6 months) and started a new job while still trying to keep up my freelance graphic design business. I do have some really exciting plans for this blog though, so hopefully there will be time for a bit more writing and also hopefully a little redesign soon!

More on that later, however. Now let’s talk about a new project of mine – making kombucha tea! I started out writing one post on this, but turns out I have a lot to say on the subject. So today we’re just going to focus on the health benefits of kombucha. Next week I’ll be writing more about how to make your own kombucha tea at home, and as a final post in this mini-series, I’ll post a few recipes that shows how you can use kombucha instead of drinking it straight.

Kombucha – what is it?

Kombucha is a slightly carbonated tea drink made through a fermentation process. The tea has a somewhat acidic taste, and a bunch of health benefits associated with drinking it. Kombucha is made by allowing tea to ferment with a yeast culture, usually referred to as a SCOBY ( ”symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.”), sometimes called kombucha mother.

The benefits of kombucha

Kombucha is said to have a wide variety of health benefits. Here are some of the reasons to why you should give kombucha a try:

Kombucha tea is a great way to boost your energy.

It’s a healthy alternative for those who are used to drinking fizzy drinks. Thanks to the energizing properties I mentioned above, it can also be used to decrease coffee intake.

Some of the bacterias and enzymes in kombucha tea is said to help detoxing the body and improve liver functions.

Kombucha tea contains antioxidants which will strenghten the immune system.

The glucosamines in kombucha are said to improve joint function, releaving some of the pain caused by arthritis.

In addition to this, it’s just pretty darn tasy! Granted, it’s an aquired taste and not for everybody, but if you like slightly acidic stuff you’ll probably love it. Plus, the variations are endless – if you make your own, you can be creative and mix in all kinds of fruits, spices, or almost anything you can think of for a new flavor. The glasses you see on the picture are blueberry, plain and apricot kombucha.

Make it yourself

You might have seen kombucha bottles in the health food stores, you might also have noticed that they are pretty expensive. Luckily, you can make it yourself at almost no cost!
Next week, I’ll be telling you how to actually make the kombucha. It might seem like a long and tedious process, but it goes pretty quickly once you get started with it. Mostly you just have to wait for the kombucha to ferment – other than that, it’s not much more difficult than brewing some tea, really.

To make kombucha, you need to add sugar to the mix. Sugar (or honey) is necessary for the fermentation process, and most of it will be ”eaten” by the SCOBY. However, some sugar will probably remain in the drink, so don’t assume that kombucha can be drunk excessively – I mean, don’t do gallons of the stuff every day.

So, check back soon for the actual making of. Until then, check out some of these great resources on kombucha: